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Capitalization

Q. What is the proper way to capitalize (or not capitalize) “generation X”? Merriam-Webster lists “baby boom” and “baby boomer,” which I would normally take as a precedent, but it seems that “generation” should be capitalized because it precedes a single letter. Has this been decided?

A. Your instincts agree with American Heritage, the fourth edition of which (available through http://www.bartleby.com/) includes for this epithet the capitalized entry “Generation X” (as well as “Generation Y”).

Q. Besides italicization, does “ceteris paribus” require an initial C? In an article of mine, I wrote: “With this notation, the ceteris paribus cost relevant to the source . . .” The copyeditor capitalized
“ceteris” but not “paribus.” Why would
that be?

A. I can only imagine that your copyeditor thought that “ceteris paribus” was some
sort of species of the animal kingdom, perhaps a distant relative of the wood pigeon (Columba palumbus ). Note also that, all things being equal, CMOS doesn’t recommend italicizing any Latin phrase common enough to be included in a dictionary like American Heritage or Merriam-Webster’s.

Q.CMOS, 14th edition, paragraph 7.19, mentions that titles are commonly lowercase (president of the United States) but that there
is an exception with the title of Speaker. There is debate in my office over the titles of archivist of the United States,
Smithsonian secretary, and librarian of Congress. If they do not precede a name, do they remain lowercase?

A. Yes, lowercase the titles. After all, how fair would it be to lowercase the president and uppercase the librarian? The Speaker
gets special treatment, though, probably because in an institution like the House, where everyone wants to talk and all the
talk is recorded for posterity, it has to be clear whether the reference is to the presiding officer (the Speaker) or the
person currently blabbing away (the speaker).

Q. What is the proper pronoun form to use to refer to God? I was taught to capitalize the pronoun “He”
when “God” was the antecedent. However, I checked a number of standard grammar
handbooks and can’t find any information on this point. Have the rules changed?

A. Chicago lowercases such pronouns, but it’s not wrong to uppercase, especially if you are writing for
a religious readership or anyone else who might take lowercasing as a sign of disrespect. In matters of style, in contrast
to those of grammar, there are few right or wrong answers. Different houses follow different style guides in order to make
their publications consistent.

Q. I understand the general rules about titles (academic, civic, etc.), but I am working on a project that has quite a few instances
of the following: “We are pleased to have the Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock here with
us today. . . . We appreciate the support of the Prime Minister of India.”
I would lowercase “prime minister of India,” but what to do about the minister
of food, agriculture, and livestock? Should it be the minister of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock, all lowercase, or title
case? Thanks for your help.

Q. I would like additional clarification regarding a recent Q&A. You stated that a word that is part of a proper name should
not be capitalized if such word is being used as an article in the sentence. The example given was “We
evaluated the University of Texas’s enrollment data.” You stated that this was
correct even if the proper name of this school is “The University of Texas.” I
thought that the goal of good editing was to produce clear, accurate, and comprehensible text. If “The”
as part of a proper name is not capitalized, the reader will be led to believe that it is not part of the name. Why create
confusion, to say nothing of the insult that may be given in certain cultures and communities where a name may have great
significance?

A. Chicago’s style is to lowercase, probably because it’s not practical for editors
to research the capitalization of “the” in every organization name in a manuscript.
Even quick Internet searches leave questions, since Web sites often show inconsistencies in spelling and capitalization. That’s
the idea behind having a style manual in the first place: to make arbitrary decisions (which we would not call “correct,”
since there are many acceptable styles) that an editor can impose efficiently within a document for the sake of consistency.
Readers are not likely to be insulted if the name of their organization is treated the same as that of every other organization
in a document.

Q. Throughout a book I am editing, there are numerous references to rules and laws that the author defines, for example, the
Law of Cause and Effect, the Rules of the Game. She also capitalizes other words that are normally lowercased: Light (as in
“toward the Light”) and Habit (when referring to a behavior that keeps us from
following the rules of the game). I realize that she is capitalizing to place an emphasis on these words and make them stand
out, but I am not entirely comfortable with this. Do you have any suggestions?

A. Depending on your level of confidence, you can try to talk the author out of the caps. I recently addressed this problem
in a manuscript with slashes through the caps on “Cultural Movement” and a cheerful
note: “I’m going to be slashing away at these kinds of caps—only
Plato still gets to cap Truth, Beauty, and Cultural Movements.” My note was intended to suggest that
such capping is old-fashioned, and my author understood and agreed. Another comment I like to use (usually with regard to
italics for emphasis, but it might also work for excessive capping) is “Your prose tends to provide
emphasis naturally and absolutely does not need these crutches.”

Q. My grammar books say to cap the first word of what comes after a colon if what comes after the colon is a complete sentence.
I noticed you didn’t do that. (“Check it out in printed books and magazines and
newspapers: you probably won’t find any double periods after abbreviations.”)

Q. When should the word “century” be capitalized? I know it would not be capitalized
in this case: “It’s not happened in this century.” But what
about this: “Were many people rich in the eighteenth century?” or “What
did people wear in eighteenth-century Pennsylvania?”

Q. Can you revisit the issue of capitalization of “city of” and “state
of” when used to identify an employer? Under 7.40 in the 14th edition, words such as “city”
and “state” “are capitalized when they are used as an accepted
part of the proper name.” Presumably you mean accepted by the powers of CMOS. In my example, Jan Johnson works for the (c)ity of Johnsonville, and I would like to offer her recognition in a conference
brochure along with Rick Ricker of the state department of transportation. Suffice to say that heated debate is generated
when one questions the way things always have been done.

A. Although Chicago editors were willing to travel personally to every burg in America to determine their accepted names, unfortunately
the university wouldn’t fund us. Instead, we were forced to revise CMOS to include the following (in the 15th edition, this appears at 8.56): “Governmental entities: Where
the government rather than the place is meant, the words state, city, and the like are usually capitalized.” I hope this allows you to recognize everyone with full capitalization
honors.